Vacating process begins at LRHS - Ritzville School Board schedules special meeting for review of Lind Community Church rental contract

 

Last updated 6/28/2018 at Noon



The Lind and Ritzville School Boards reviewed the exit process currently underway at Lind-Ritzville High School, as well as moved forward with plans for the upcoming school year during the meeting on June 25.

The initial agenda for the meeting included the approval of a rental contract with the Lind Community Church, but the item was immediately tabled at the start of the meeting with discussion regarding the matter to occur at a special board meeting.

The Ritzville School Board will hold a special board meeting on Monday, July 9, at 6:30 p.m. in the Ritzville Grade School cafeteria to discuss and adjust the proposed contract.

The plan is for the Lind-Ritzville Cooperative School Districts to utilize a portion of the Lind Community Church for instructional areas during the upcoming school year.

If the contract is approved, it is planned to have multiple classrooms within the facility.

Matt Ellis led his final meeting as superintendent, and Donald Vanderholm will fill the position and lead the July school board meeting.

Ellis provided updates to the school board members regarding the exit process from the current Lind-Ritzville High School building.

The business office equipment, data and personnel have relocated to the Ritzville Grade School office, which became fully operational on June 26 with the installation of computers and phone lines.

The remainder of the LRHS is nearly empty, Ellis explained, with two cargo containers being utilized to store materials that need to be protected from the weather.

The District worked with Wheatland Waste Systems during the cleaning of the building, as a large amount of waste was disposed of during cleaning.

Ellis said the transition is going well, and the majority of the items remaining in the building are those going into a surplus sale. Both school boards approved a substantial surplus list during the Monday meeting, with the majority of the items being used library books.

Another crucial part of the transition is continuing to hire employees for vacant positions. The school boards approved the resignation of two RGS teachers, LRHS science teacher, LRMS head cook and an LRMS para pro.

Ellis explained currently the high school English and science positions still need to be filled, along with two RGS teacher positions, a full-time bus driver position and a one-year assistant cook/cashier position.

Derek Miller from Architects West provided an update on the LRHS construction project. The final drawings are currently being reviewed and he estimated will be made public within the next three weeks.

Miller said the current plan is to bid the project in July, and ideally, they would like to receive three or four bids for the project.

He added it is not currently a good market because of the state withholding funds last year, but Architects West has been notifying contractors they have worked with in the past about the upcoming project.

Alternates have been built into the plan to ensure the project can come in on budget, Miller explained. He said the Ritzville project will benefit from being close enough to attract contractors from both the Tri-Cities and Spokane markets.

Architects West has focused on keeping the construction simple and straightforward as an additional way to attract contractors to the project, Miller added.

The Lind and Ritzville school board members also approved a contract with the East Adams Library District for library services within the Lind-Ritzville Middle School.

EALD Director Kylie Fullmer explained library services have been provided to the community one day a week from the Lind school for four years, but a contract was never established.

The contract allows EALD to use the LRMS library for community activities, and also allows students and patrons to check out books from the Ritzville Library.

Fullmer explained the contract is nearly identical to the previous one approved by the boards when the Ritzville Public Library was undergoing construction and the library temporarily operated out of LRHS.

Currently, the Lind School District is paying for an employee to assist with the weekly library programs in Lind since it is outside of school hours, but Fullmer explained EALD will begin paying the wages for the employee during that time instead.

The final order of business included an adjustment of the July board meeting date.

Due to scheduling conflicts, the upcoming board meeting will be held on Thursday, July 26, at 6:30 p.m. at the Lind-Ritzville Middle School.

There will be a budget hearing prior to the meeting at 6 p.m.

 

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